Assignment: Approaches to Software and Systems Development
How does an IT professional choose the most appropriate approach, when designing and building a secure, enterprise system? Consider the following scenario.
Big Metals manufactures parts for the automobile industry. With a global distribution network, it needs to make available the technical information to multiple clusters of sales offices as well as manufacturing locations. Big Metals conducts Research and Development and holds several important patents. Patent information as well as technical specifications are currently housed in a database repository solution that is not accessible via mobile devices. Big Metals IT Director for Development obtained the approval to extend the interface, upgrade the database and provide access via a secure portal, with a timeline of six months from design to delivery and implementation. The development teams are physically located in two offices but approximately 25% work virtually. In the past, there have been some questions expressed about increasing use of virtual teams, due to security concerns.
However, the IT Director for Development is aware of the changing approaches to developing software and systems solutions, including the use of Agile Development, although historically they have used both a Waterfall model and Object Oriented approaches. Additionally, if the IT Director for Development were to increase the use of virtual teams, concerns over network security and use of mobile device would have to be addressed.
In this Assignment, you will prepare a recommendation document for presenting to the IT Director for Development. This recommendation should address the concerns about networks and security, what development approach would suit their unique environment of providing both R&D and technical documentation to the diversity of Big Metals stakeholders, within their global environment.
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Review your Weekly Learning Resources with a focus on the combination of network security, mobile access as well as software and systems development approaches and methodologies;
- Consider the specific characteristics of developing for enterprise type environments and what type of software approaches and methodologies would be most suitable;
- Reflect upon the basic information on Big Metals provided (above);
To complete this Individual Assignment:
Create a document in which you include the following:
- An Introduction to the context;
- A review of the key considerations that factored into any of the recommendations that involve access to confidential information (patents and technical), using mobile devices in a virtual environment.
In the recommendation document, include advantages, disadvantages, benefits and risks
- Fully state and justify any choices, assumptions or claims that you make using the suggested Learning Resources for this Week and/or your own research.
- Include references to any sources you have used.
- All sources should be cited using
Assignment Instructions:
- Your document should have 750-1,000 words (not including the list of works cited), but it is the quality of the answer that matters, not the number of words. Cite and reference all sources using the Harvard
